Silver Mount Zion - 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
|
Our Price: $16.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $9.80 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Free Music Review: A low point for an AMAZING band
Hit: 3 Stars
I'm a huge fan of Efrem and all of his work, but I have to admit that this album is a little disappointing. I've taken the time (a few times) to sit down and really listen to it, and I still can't get into this one as much as other albums.Free Music Review: Breath-Taking, Awe-Inspiring, Angry, Beautiful
Hit: 4 Stars
This album is a lot different from previous efforts, more similar to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but not quite. Partly I think the new raw sound comes from the addition of drummer Eric Craven of Hangedup (gotta check them out) as well as anger at the lack of change. Like they've been screaming in our ears forever about the state of things and the need for change, and now they're avoiding the subtle hints and shoving a 'F**k you' in your face in desperation. And boy when they drop in with spine-shattering chords/drums/whailing vocals, do you feel it. But still it's beautiful. It's not all anger and aggression, there are still the wonderful group choral sections, the gentle reminder that 'some hearts are true' in the final track.
I would have to say that this, in combination with SMZs two unreleased tracks Metal Bird and There Is A Light that they're performing on their tour currently, equate to Silver Mt Zion's best work.
Free Music Review: their best yet
Hit: 5 Stars
The vocals on this recording have improved immensely from past efforts with a distinctive and mature "anti-vocal" style (al al Dylan, Young, or the Mekons). The rock somehow remains exciting over the length of the elongated 12 minute plus songs. And I believe that the political lyrics are apt, in contrast to some of the inane reviews on the net by indoctrinated hacks. This is certainly so far one of the best recordings of the year and the best Silver Mt Zion recording since their first mostly instrumental romantic classically orientated chamber album. Free Music Review: The best album I've heard all year
Hit: 5 Stars
I bought this album almost entirely on spec, having read a flat-out rave review of it on allmusic. The only other thing I had heard by any of the people involved was a Godspeed You! Black Emperor album which I'd liked, but not loved.
Somewhat to my surprise, as I'm no longer in the first flush of my youth and should be getting increasingly narrow-minded by now, I love this. I am 37 and long ago stopped feeling like I had to keep up with every single new direction in rock music; I am mildly suspicious of anything that is slapped with a label that begins with 'post-...', but I know it's not the fault of the musicians. This album does it for me, though, on every level.
It starts, as the allmusic reviewer noted, with a series of sort-of-tuned but not unpleasant high-pitched tones, which then blend into a quiet and ominous intro to the first song, '1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound'. There's a simple little bass riff, then female voices start singing the song title over and over again, on one note. Then another voice starts singing it in harmony. Then a guy with a raw, passionate, cracked, slightly goofy voice joins in...this goes on for a while, the guy varying his words while the women keep singing the beautiful but threatening refrain...then they stop.
Then the band plunges into the song proper, full-on bashing drums and raw cello and swirling violins and fuzzy guitars all playing a riff that Tony Iommi would have been proud to come up with, but slower, more worried, more chaotic. It goes on like that for the best part of fifteen minutes, sometimes changing, with the occasional instrumental passage, but basically this glorious communal racket that surges like waves crashing on a beach in a winter storm at night. Yes, it's repetitive, but it changes the way the sea changes, basically the same but always just different enough to be fascinating. And that's just the first song.
Yes, the singer has a voice that snags your attention - so does Jonathan Richman, so does Keith Morris, so does Frank Zappa, to name but three other guys who you can't easily ignore while they're singing. I actually like his voice, which is certainly easier to listen to than some people I can think of (for example, I would love to listen to The Mars Volta but I can't stand the singer).
I am raving about this album because it's, by any standards, seriously good, and deserves more than people complaining that it's not enough like their old stuff. (When supposed fans of the band are complaining about the album, you have to think, with friends like these...) I will go back and listen to their old stuff because I like this so much, but since this is apparently a band that is continually changing its sound, I respect that about them, and I would hope that longer-term fans of the band than I would respect it too.
Yet more evidence that when it comes to making music that touches every part of the body simultaneously - head, heart, gut, nerves, loins, clenched fists - sometimes you just have to go to Canadians.
Free Music Review: 12 nothings + 4 marathons
Hit: 3 Stars
I am in love with ASMZ, but this album does not reach the stature as the likes of "Shafts of Light" "Horses in the Sky" and "Born Into Trouble" have.
The first 12 tracks are a few seconds long each, all with static/blip types of sounds leading up to the meat of the album, the last four tracks... all clocking in over 13 minutes each. It's basically filler for a typical ASMZ or GY!BE album which usually consists of just a few epic tracks. There is more of a reliance on vocals from the previous albums, even more so than "Horses" which was quite a heavy vocal album as compared to the rest of their library.
i would suggest to first time ASMZers not to purchase this as the first record. Definitely "Shafts of Light" would be a better album to start out with. For experienced ASMZ listeners, you will find the signature sounds you might expect... but for me it is more of a B-side album. Nothing has stood out tremendously and the sounds are typical of an ASMZ album. Nothing special, but definitely nothing wrong either.
More Free Music Notes:
1 2
1 2